Crocodile handler 'killed by crocodile' during search for mauled teenager

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A crocodile handler has reportedly been killed by a reptile while searching a river for the body of a teenager attacked the previous day.

A 16-year-old, known only as Arjuna, was reportedly killed by a crocodile while he was swimming in the Maura Jawa estury in East Kalimantan, Indonesia on Friday.

Witnesses described seeing a crocodile handler known as Suprianto – who purportedly claimed to be able to be able to tame the reptiles – being dragged beneath the surface while looking for the body of the adolescent, the national Kompas newspaper reported.

Both bodies were found a day later, according to Detik.

“We recovered the two (bodies) on Sunday," Kutai Kartanegara Police Chief Fadillah Zulkarnaen told the Indonesian-language website.

"The shaman (Suprianto) was found floating in Muara Jawa at 9.40pm. His body is still whole.

“I think he was dragged by a crocodile under the water and then ran out of oxygen. From the pictures I’ve seen, his body is still intact, his arms and legs are still there.”

Indonesian waters are home to several species of crocodile and deaths by crocodiles are not uncommon.

Hellen Kurniati, a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), told Indonesian website Coconuts there had been an increase in the number of crocodile attacks in the country because it was the animals' mating season, which meant the reptiles were more protective of their territory.

Yet during this period, crocodiles have less appetite. meaning it is unusual for them to try to eat the people they catch, according to Ms Kurniati.